DoD News

News Article

MTMC to Improve How It Moves Service Members

ALEXANDRIA, VA, Dec. 26, 2001  Changes are coming in the way the Military Traffic Management Command administers the moves of the nation's military service members.

"We are changing the processes that fundamentally affect how service members move," said Lt. Col. Patty Hunt, Army deputy chief of staff for passenger and personal property. "These changes go to the core of the way we conduct business. These, combined with lessons learned from our pilot experience, will represent a major difference in the future program and the automation to support that program."

Each year, MTMC moves more than 500,000 service members. The changes could be in place as early as spring in time for the busy summer moving surge.

MTMC is decreasing the time allowed for the delivery of service members' personal property in international moves, said Richard Morrow, traffic management specialist. "We're analyzing all channels and codes of service in an effort to identify opportunities to reduce transit times," he said. "This will represent changes big and small in the amount of time a service member has to wait for his or her property to arrive at the next duty location."

The changes probably result in at least a 15 percent drop in time allowed for a mover to complete the personal property shipment, he said. For example, 66 days is the current time allowed to ship a service member's household goods from Fort Hood, Texas, to Kaiserslautern, Germany. The proposed changes would cut that time to 54 days, or 18 percent.

In a related initiative, the command is increasing the standards required to qualify as a DoD personal property carrier. "Each carrier must reapply under the new standard to remain an approved Department of Defense carrier," said Sylvia Walker, traffic management specialist.

The revised standards call for carriers to meet higher financial reporting and operating standards, including an increased cargo liability insurance and maintenance of a performance bond for domestic moves.

These changes have been published in the Federal Register for public comment.